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Brussels – The European Commission asked Spanish authorities this Monday for more investment in nature-based water resilience and climate change resistance solutions to address the 74% risk of desertification the country faces.
“Spain must fight against pollution and invest in nature-based solutions and climate change resistance,” stated European Commissioner for Environment, Jessika Roswall, during a press conference at the presentation of the steps to follow to shape the new community water strategy.
The commissioner also urged Spain to combat water pollution, ensure greater transparency and better coordination, and intensify cross-border efforts to achieve sustainable water management, in line with the recommendations from the Commission’s assessment of the progress made to improve the state of water bodies in the EU in the last six years.
In this regard, the report states that “as recognized by Spanish authorities, the current system only recovers 70% of the costs incurred from users,” a “gap” in cost recovery identified as “a significant obstacle to financing the necessary measures to reach environmental objectives.”
Therefore, the Commission recommends Spain to provide “more detailed” information on relevant investments and estimates on the most cost-effective combination of measures for all regional river basins, while also prioritizing measures.
Specifically, it requests an explicit and systematic description of the adequacy of water pricing incentives to water use efficiency, double efforts to fully apply the cost recovery principle to all water use activities and systematically provide more information on the factors mitigating cost recovery, sectoral adequacy of contribution to costs, and the degree of water resource utilization.
Additionally, in agricultural terms, Brussels points out that “Spain must more effectively address illegal water extractions in agriculture and other sectors through tighter control and stricter penalties.”
Also in terms of cooperation, the assessment indicates that Spain should improve cross-border collaboration, particularly by designing joint measure programs within the framework of cooperation agreements with Portugal and France, and strengthen cooperation in water capture to face the risks of desertification.
As explained by Roswall, the information provided by the reports will play a crucial role in shaping the upcoming Water Resilience Strategy, which the European Commission plans to present in spring with the goal of addressing the most pressing water-related challenges in Europe.
The European executive also launched this Monday a public consultation to offer stakeholders the opportunity to share their opinions and help design the future European Water Resilience Strategy.
The call is open to representatives from all over the EU, including members of the public and stakeholders working in water-related areas. The consultation process will also include a stakeholder consultation event to be held on March 6. (February 4)